Has the ECB resurrected the Test career of Jos Buttler off the back of his recent IPL performances? T20 is NOT Test cricket you nongs. A FC record of @31 is not up to Test standard. Butler has technical flaws that a good bowler will exploit. Also is he a better keeper than Bairstow? Jury is out for me.

Dunno much about Dom Bess. Someone care to fill me in. I would have picked Jake Ball over Mark Wood.

Last edited by baggygreenmania on Wed May 16, 2018 3:20 am, edited 1 time in total.

Well that was an awful day by England I thought. The only positive I can find is that Cook actually looked good. Stoneman must have signed his death warrant, Roots dismissal was a shocker & Malan was just dreadful. The lower order? Pathetic. Pakistan showed us how to bowl & how to bat. Watched the whole day as I’m off sick at the moment & that performance didn’t exactly cheer me up. God we are bad. I seen a lot of Nick Gubbins recently, think he should have played. Deserves a chance. Didn’t agree with the Butler selection, just don’t see how any team can hide a batsman at 7. I would have selected Ben Foakes who at least again deserves his chance. We need to sharpen up fast! But well played a Pakistan today.

England have already picked up one wicket.I fully expect us to collapse tomorrow morning - will not be surprised if this becomes a one-innings match (which England would almost certainly then win).Unless England get a sizeable lead in this innings itself.

Daanav wrote:Why did England need Buttler when he was not even keeping wickets? Why take him away from RR just because they could? Methinks there something going on behind the scenes.

ofcourse. ECB is jealous of IPL success and would do anything to stop it from being popular in England too. If more English players start playing in IPL there would be more viewership for it, as it coincides with county cricket, IPL take a piece of english viewership pie denting ECB revenue. English pride is stopping them to make a window for IPL and push county or international cricket dates adjustment. no player is fully fit for about a month after IPL, as it’s physically demanding. Unless ECB match player paychecks to IPL they are doomed.

raja wrote:Bess has scores of 107, 30 and 92 only recently.He's a proper all-rounder.England cruising now, with a lead of 56.

A slow bowler that bats is a great asset to have. Mason Crane was tried and discarded I believe because he could not contribute meaningfully with the willow.. Mind you his bowling was not all that penetrative.

Bess and the unlikely Jos Buttler holding England together .. just. At least they made Paks bat again.

Didnt particularly agree with Buttler's selection, but "Chapeau"! What I found very interesting was how he used his feet to walk down & across the pitch, thus negating the length & movement of the Pakistan bowlers. He tried something different! Some of the others might want to take a look at that. He then played in a pretty orthodox manner & used his ability to grind out a score. Something we've not really seen from him before. Very impressive from him & young Bess. But we cant as a team be 100-5 in every innings! Still think the Bayliss/Root coach 7 captain partnership is not working out.

All out 242. Cant blame the lower order. Pakistan need 64 to win. Even a miracle wont be good enough here. Big decisions need to be made. Dont see how Bayliss can remain, we are on a spiralling downward slope under him. We need to find another captain & a batting order who can actually bat. Enough is enough for me.

Against Pakistan, England are better-off laying a batsman-friendly wicket.Pakistan's batting is weak - even on such a wicket, they're not likely to get too many.OTOH, their bowling strength will likely get neutralised by the wicket.

Congrats to your boys raja.. better than England in all departments. Plenty of work needed by the ECB to get this side competitive. They have now lost to Aust, NZ and can only draw Pakistan. Not a good record from last three series.

Last edited by baggygreenmania on Sun May 27, 2018 1:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

baggygreenmania wrote:"test cricket is a JOKE". Test cricket is not the joke it is the people playing it that are.

if certain team keep losing miserably ALL test matches for over an year, why not BAN that team from playing test cricket? Go ahead and REVOKE test cricket permissions for this English team. You guys do make a GRAND SPECTACLE of granting test cricket status as if it’s So precious? Now grow some beard and restore sanity of it by banning non-performers of test cricket so that you get to say grand things about giving test cricket status. if not !

Mohammad Amir has had some of the greatest and undoubtedly the worst days of his career in England — sometimes during the very same match.But fresh from helping bowl Pakistan to a crushing nine-wicket win over England in the first Test at Lord’s, the left-arm paceman hopes he can enjoy the “best memory” with a series win in the second and final Test at Headingley, starting FridayRead more:http://bit.ly/2H6UK7l

Much better from England, but I still don’t think Bayliss should stay as coach! Bit of a bizarre mirror image turnaround. Would be great to have a series decider somewhere like The Oval. Pakistan have been good value & deserve a lot of praise.